Two subsets of peripheral blood plasma cells defined by differential expression of CD45 antigen

The purpose of this study was to optimize the flow cytometric determination of circulating normal and malignant plasma cells (PC). We investigated peripheral blood (PB) samples of 65 patients with multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance and 47 control subjects using CD38, CD45, B-B4, CD56, VLA-4, VLA-5 and CD19 monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs). Mono- or polyclonality was determined by staining of intracellular kappa and lambda light chains. Two subpopulations of PBPC were distinguished by differential expression of CD45. CD45 positive (CD45⁺) PC showed a more immature morphology and were detected in all groups. They were polyclonal in the control subjects and either poly- or monoclonal in the myeloma patients. In contrast, CD45 negative (CD45⁻) PBPC only occurred in myeloma patients and were consistently monoclonal, their presence being significantly associated with high disease activity ( P <0.001). Although detection of CD45⁻ PBPC using CD38 or B-B4 MoAbs lead to similar results, CD45⁺ PBPC often were recognized to a lesser extent by B-B4 than by CD38 MoAbs.
In conclusion, normal and malignant circulating PC can reliably be identified using CD38 and CD45 MoAbs. CD45 expression separates PBPC into two subsets of which the CD45⁻ one only occurs in myeloma patients.